Aldwynable

18 / 132

Page 18
Aldwyn McGill
It was innocent gesture by
“Miss Baby” when she
noticed that I was constantly
in the presence of the older
boys in her yard.
“Look at the little midget nah,”
she said, and after the
laughter the rest is history. I
was stuck with the name and
with no regrets. The name
made me work harder to be
successful since there was
nothing I could have done
about my size.
After flunking my first try at
GCE exam at SEPOS school
in ‘67, it was a tough way to
find out that embarrassment
and failure was not in my
DNA. That was reinforced by
my sister Yvonne, who
supported my return to
(Osmond High) school.
However, I experienced
success through football. My
Cipriani United team won the
Morvant Football league with
an undefeated season in ‘68
and subsequent to the league
championship I managed to
passed the GCE exam at
Osmond High School. It was
a good feeling and one of
confidence. It seemed from
that time on, success bred
success at least in the line of
sports and it added value to
my self worth and belonging.
Val “Chalky” Sebro
When I attended South East
Secondary school I lived on
Caimet Street in Morvant.
My family had moved from
(around the corner) upper
Cipriani Street between the
Clarks’ and Williamson
families. My mother and
Mrs. Williamson were the
best of friends and her son
Christford (Puss) Williamson
and I remained friends. It
was because of ’Puss’ that I
became serious about
competitive sports and
playing football. He excelled
at all sports and had a large
trophy collection. He was a
nightmare to defenders with
exceptional dribbling skills
and ability to use both feet.
The only problem I had in
following in ‘Puss”
footsteps was a lack of
opportunity to display those
skills because of my size.
There were times when I felt
like my alias names of
“Stumpy” from school and
"Midget" worked against me
when coaches chose the
guys who were bigger in
size.
I was given the name Midget
by an older lady who lived
down the (Caimet) street
from where I lived called
Miss Baby Myers.
Left-Right: Victor “Bigger” McGill, Keith ‘Hecky” Sebro Aldwyn “Midget” McGill, Patrick “Pato” Nicholas
It was that sense of
belonging that got me
hooked on soccer and team
sports. Objectives were
attainable while friends and
family were there to buffer
disappointments.
My close personal friends
in the Cipriani area were
Patrick Nicholas, Val
“Chalky” Sebro, and
deceased Ray (Bus)
Bowen. Jacob Windsor
(school friend) became a
regular on the Cipriani
block so he was added.
However, it was with Leroy
(oldest brother) that I got to
go to the savannah. Leroy
played for Blackpool and
was their main forward
when he won the most
goals of the Morvant
Football League (MFL) in
the late 50s. He also played
for Burnley club in the
Northern Football League. l il